In data centers, processing requested from a client is executed by a virtual machine (VM), and the result of the executed processing is transmitted to the client. Furthermore, a plurality of virtual machines transfer information between each other and cooperate with each other, and specific processing is performed in a distributed manner. Such communication operations by virtual machines may be called flows. In order to manage a system using a data center, communication status is monitored for each flow.
FIG. 1 illustrates a related art. A data center 1 includes a server 2, a virtual machine management server (VM machine management server) 3, and an analysis device 4. The server 2 includes a virtual machine 5, a virtual machine 6, a virtual switch (vSW) 7, network interface cards (NICs) 8 to 10, and an input/output (IO) bus 11. The virtual switch 7 includes a buffer 12.
The virtual machines 5 and 6 receive a processing request from a client through a network 13, perform the requested processing by using allocated physical resources, and transmit processing results to the client. Processing results transmitted in accordance with corresponding processing timings of the individual virtual machines 5 and 6 are sequentially buffered into the buffer 12 provided in the virtual switch 7. Then, the processing results are transferred to the NIC 8, which is a communication circuit, and are transmitted to the client. Allocation of the physical resources to the virtual machines 5 and 6 in the sever 2 is performed in accordance with management information transmitted from the VM management server 3 through the NIC 9 to the server 2.
Meanwhile, in order to analyze communication operations by the virtual machines 5 and 6, packets transmitted to the network 13 are collected. In order to collect packets, packets that have been sequentially buffered into the buffer 12 are transmitted through the NIC 10 to the analysis device 4. The analysis device 4 collects the transmitted packets. After a certain number of packets to be used for communication analysis are collected, the analysis device 4 performs communication analysis for the virtual machines 5 and 6.
A technology for suppressing the communication load on a network between a plurality of servers by integrating virtual machines that are arranged in a distributed manner for a plurality of servers and that communicate with one another to be arranged for a specific server is known.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2011-180889 is an example of related art.